Squaring the conflicting remarks on housing from Lew and Yellen

Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen meet each week, but that doesn’t mean their messages are always in synch.

Lew raised some eyebrows when he noted, in the opening to a meeting of the Financial Stability Oversight Council, that “the housing market has gained traction since the depths of the financial crisis.”

That seemed odd, given that Yellen only hours earlier had lamented: “Another risk–domestic in origin–is that the recent flattening out in housing activity could prove more protracted than currently expected rather than resuming its earlier pace of recovery.”

So, who to believe?

Well, both. By every conceivable metric — sales of old and new homes, prices, foreclosures, housing starts — conditions have improved in the housing market when measured from post-recession lows. At the same time, there’s been a clear deterioration in every housing category (but prices) in the first quarter.

This mixed message isn’t an easy one to understand from finance’s two most important public officials, but it’s not necessarily incorrect, either.